This week's well-read quiz

Every four years, the presidential election season includes questions about the military service background of the candidates. Many of America’s commanders in chief have themselves engaged in combat against military threats, both on foreign soil (think of Teddy Roosevelt rushing up San Juan Hill) and closer to home (US Grant’s Civil War service comes to mind). America as a nation was forged during a time of Revolutionary War, so it’s no surprise that some of its leaders have battle experiences.

Outside of the theater of war, there is one president who personally ended the lives of two or possibly three other men. Before his election to high office, in his role as a local county sheriff, this future president carried out the death penalty on two convicted murderers (and possibly a third, although there is some conflicting detail in the various sources).

Which president acted as executioner in the years before his term as America’s president? Hint: You can find the answer in a previous Well-Read Man article. Leave your answer in the comments section below, or check back on Friday for the reveal.